Turn LEFT-A Very Brief History of Nascar Racing

Gibsonton Travel Blog

Nascarâ€™s racing history is as colorful as the logo covered (not STOCK at all cars) that have made this sport famous. Nascar roots go back to Prohibition days when bootleggers(none of the Old School Clan were ever Caught or Convicted of any charges)"people who delivered moonshine, a home-brewed whiskey distilled from corn, potatoes or anything that would ferment"souped up or hot rodded their cars so they could out run & get away from the federal tax agents.The Good Olâ€™ Boys built their reputations by outsmarting and outdriving the law officers. For bragging rights, they held informal races to determine which moonshiner was fastest & the best driver.By the end of the 1940s, those contests had become an organized sport of sort, largely due to the efforts of one driver, Big Bill France.

The GOOD Seats

Big Bill organized a meeting of drivers, car owners and mechanics at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., on December 14, 1947, to establish standard rules for racing. This is when then the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Nascar was conceived. Two months later, on February 15, 1948, the first official Nascar race was held on the beach in Daytona. Red Byron won it in his Ford. A week later, Nascar was incorporated, and Big Bill France appointed as its fearless leader.Nascar has seen more than its share of dramatic races and unforgettable finishes and faces. Lee Petty was declared the winner of the first-ever Daytona 500 in 1959, 61 hours after the race finished. (Big Bill France spent the time examining news footage of the race; it was that close.) Seventeen years later, Leeâ€™s son Richard duked it out on the track against David Pearson. The two drivers crashed just before the finish line, and Pearson won the race by sputtering to the checkered flag.

Dale Junior

Richard Petty came back to win Daytona three years later. Pettyâ€™s retirement in 1992 marked the transition from Nascarâ€™s old guard to a new generation of young SuperStars like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, Casey Kane whose good looks and well-spoken ways have gone a long way toward popularizing and urbanizing the sport of the old-time moonshine runners.Many different types of corporate sponsors have joined the chase of the Nascar fanâ€™s dollars.Nascar has become America's second-most-watched sport after football.The driverâ€™s crew-chiefs & car owners have reached Rock Star statutes in the eyes of the Nascar Fans!